Alameda City Council to Consider Mapes Ranch Subdivision Plan

At Tuesday’s council meeting, Alameda City Council will consider a plan to subdivide the vacant lot at the corner of Fernside Boulevard and Tilden Way into 11 lots for single family homes. The project is known as Mapes Ranch, after the property owner, Clifford Mapes.

According to the city staff report, the site was the former location of an Exxon oil distribution facility; the buildings and underground tanks were removed between 1986 and 1988.

The new lots would range in size from 4,050 square feet to 5,289 square feet, in keeping with typical lot sizes in the neighborhood.

Area residents have expressed concern, however, about a City of Alameda Planning Board requirement to include a pedestrian walkway that would link Tilden Way at the Fruitvale Bridge to Versailles Avenue. Previously, an access gate in the same area was permanently locked, prohibiting passage, and residents say that crime in the neighborhood subsequently dropped. Over 100 people signed a petition submitted to the Council, asking that they remove the provision for the walkway.

Planning Department staff assert that the Planning Board did the right thing by including the condition to preserve rights for the City of Alameda in the future, but concede that removing the condition will not reduce the quality or integrity of the project.

The property owner will be required to provide at least one affordable housing unit with the development.

City Council meets Tuesday, October 2nd, at 7:00 p.m. in Council Chambers at 2263 Santa Clara Avenue.